Trump’s floundering Senate pick partied in Dubai with mistress and two US fugitives: report

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Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who has been attacked by rival James Talarico over his “jet-setting lifestyle,” spent New Year’s Eve 2024 in Dubai with his mistress and two fugitives from U.S. justice, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal has obtained mobile phone footage, filmed by another guest at the party in question, in which the state’s attorney general, 63, appears to be seen taking in the spectacular fireworks display over the Emirate’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper from a nearby high-rise balcony.

Also ringing in 2025 from the same spot were, among others, Paxton’s girlfriend Tracy Duhon – a Christian influencer he met at the Kentucky Derby – and Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, who had been indicted on federal healthcare fraud charges by a court in Illinois earlier that year to which they initially failed to return home to respond, the Journal states.

The duo was accused of embezzling $15 million from a Chicago hospital at which Ahmed had served as chief financial officer. Both have since returned to the U.S., and Ahmed is in custody, the newspaper reports. Suhail’s attorney said his client had been held up by civil matters in Dubai but subsequently returned voluntarily.

Campaign records also cited by the Journal meanwhile indicate that Ahmed, who has business interests in Texas, has donated $190,000 to Paxton, including $25,000 in the wake of his indictment.

Responding, the candidate’s senior adviser Nick Maddux told the Journal in a statement: “Like President Trump, Ken Paxton has been politically persecuted for years, and every time, voters have seen through it and sent him back to office because they know he has always fought for Texas.”

The Independent has reached out to the Paxton campaign for further comment.

Trump endorsed the state AG in May – helping him to beat the incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn, in the GOP primary – despite reportedly being warned against doing so by advisers in light of the candidate’s history of scandal in public office.

That includes his being impeached by the Texas House in 2023 on corruption charges – of which he was only narrowly acquitted in the state Senate, despite protesting his innocence – and his wife Angela, a Texas senator, moving last year to divorce him “on Biblical grounds,” alleging adultery.

The president took no heed of the warnings against Paxton and was dismissive of the threat posed by Talarico, seemingly more concerned with ousting Cornyn for being insufficiently loyal to his agenda.

He may come to regret the decision, as most polls now suggest Talarico is ahead and stands a very real chance of becoming the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas since 1994.

Despite the endorsement, Trump has not been able to resist making catty remarks about Paxton’s appearance on the campaign trail.

Speaking at last month’s Republican midterms convention in Dallas, the president said of his candidate: “He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen, but you know what he is?

“He’s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator… He’ll never speak to me again, but that’s OK!”

Paxton was forced to laugh off the insults publicly but has since twice been caught on tape complaining about the unpopular Trump’s adverse influence over his campaign, saying in one instance: “When we did that convention – it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”

“He can be a pain in the a** sometimes, I’ll be honest,” the president responded during a visit to a truck factory in Denton in Paxton’s state earlier this month, a trek he had made, at least ostensibly, in order to persuade voters to back his chosen candidate as the right man to represent them.

Talarico’s critiques over Paxton’s travel schedule stem from his going on at least 19 recorded overseas trips with his state-funded security detail between 2022 and 2025, taking in Greece, Italy, South Africa and Mexico, among other destinations, more than either Texas Gov. Greg Abbott or Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Paxton also got into trouble when he visited London with Duhon this summer, allegedly “lunging” at an American tourist who had filmed the couple near Westminster Bridge and attempting to grab his phone, an incident the latter reported to the Metropolitan Police.

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